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A Christmas Story

I’ve been holding on to this post for months, and now I can finally tell this story. There’s a bit of backstory required before the punchline – hopefully my lack of genuine writing hasn’t fallen off the cliff too much. Do I have what it takes to tell a compelling story? Doubtful, but you should read the rest of this anyway. (Have I delayed long enough?)

First some nuggets of backstory. Working at the Home Office of the American Diabetes Association, our local Step Out event had us walking in and around the stadium for the Washington Nationals. Naturally, there were individual fundraising efforts, but the big kahuna was our ‘Rock to Stop Diabetes’ event a few weeks before the actual walk. We took over half a bar, had some great live music and raised a lot of money through auctions, both live and silent.

PAUSE.

Remember Melissa (@Amalas) from the Team Ninjabetic extravaganza? She was in town that week for work-related stuff. Having already hung out a few weeks prior in California, it didn’t feel akward giving her the info on the fundraiser on the chance that she could navigate the Metro system. Lucky for me, she made it.

RESUME

Being in the heart of Washington D.C. and considering the state of athletics in the District, all of the sports memorabilia being auctioned was from the Washington Capitals. (John Wall hasn’t done anything yet.) Knowing that Dayle is a huge Caps fan, being a season ticket holder and all, I had been plotting a way to acquire something during the auction without her knowing.

As the live auction started, my shift at the front of the bar began, so I was no where near the action. Before I headed to the door I found Melissa, told her a magic number to not go over and said “I want that jersey.”

“That jersey” was a Washington Capitals jersey signed by the entire 2009-2010 team.

As you can guess, I got the jersey. Melissa was glorious in her bidding (despite Dayle bidding on it early on too) and I spent my lunch break the next day rendezvousing with Melissa in the city, compensating her for the jersey and her help and then practicing a quiet tounge. That was in the beginning of October. It’s been almost three months and I haven’t said a word. I haven’t hinted anything. For all Dayle knew, this thing was sitting somewhere in St. Louis.

If you are reading this close to the publishing time of this blog post, Dayle has likely opened a shoebox containing a Certificate of Authenticity and has received a ridiculously large frame containing the jersey I won in October. I’ll update this post with a picture of the jersey after she opens it.

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2 thoughts on “A Christmas Story”

I’m soooo excited for you guys. It was tough at first to stay quiet cause Dayle asked a few questions and I wasn’t sure how to respond. I was really hoping she didn’t ask for pics of it in my house or something because I wouldn’t be able to produce them… The auction was a ton of fun and it was great hanging out with you guys. =D